Stan Lee Media is suing the Walt Disney Co. for "billions of dollars of profits," claiming that they are the rightful owners of the Marvel comic characters, such as Spider Man and Iron Man. Stan Lee is the creator of many of the characters, but is no longer associated with the company. Stan Lee Media says that Lee turned over the rights to his characters in 1998, but subsequently also assigned them to Marvel Enterprises a month later.

Marvel Enterprises (now known as Marvel Entertainment) was purchased in 2009 by Disney for $4.3 billion. In the suit, Stan Lee Media states, "The Walt Disney Company has represented to the public that it, in fact, owns the copyright to these characters as well as hundreds of other characters created by Stan Lee. Those representations made to the public by the Walt Disney Company are false."

Disney says the lawsuit is frivolous and the same facts have already been reviewed and dismissed by three federal district court judges. In the list of claims against Disney, the company says they are owed $3.5 billion from motion pictures and $2 billion from "other media."

Stan Lee Media is known for their multitude of suits regarding "corporate governance issues and the characters rights."